Things to do

Essaouira is a wind town before it is a beach town, and the wind sets the shape of your days. On the 1991-2020 normals the bay has 147 days a year above 15 knots, 20 of them in the 31 days of July. From April to September the bay is for kitesurfing, windsurfing and wing foiling. From October to January the wind drops to 8 strong days a month. The swell then takes over until April: that is surf season. Everything else the town offers grew up around the water sports. Horses and camels on the sand, quad bikes in the dunes, the hammam and yoga. Then cooking classes and day trips inland.

This page compares those activities with one another: which one for which wind, which season, which kind of visitor. It says nothing about any one school or operator. To book, go to the school or operator directly, with the questions we list further down.

The wind picks the activity, and the hour

The rule fits in two lines. Water and sand in the morning, before the trade wind builds. Anything under a roof in the afternoon, once it blows. From April to September the wind tops 15 knots one hour in eight at 06:00, and four hours in ten between 14:00 and 17:00, by our calculation over ten years of hourly data. Kitesurfing is the exception, with lessons in the morning and riding after 14:00. Our kitesurfing pages rank its three stretches of water by level: the bay, Sidi Kaouki, Moulay Bouzerktoune. Windsurfing shares the bay with the kites and keeps Moulay Bouzerktoune for the waves. Wing foiling is the newcomer. It is learnt in the same bay, but by the tide, because the foil needs water beneath it.

Surfing in Essaouira runs on the opposite calendar. When the wind falls away, the west-north-west swell reaches the bay and Sidi Kaouki, 26 km south. Imsouane, 99 km away by road, takes the whole day. You wear a wetsuit all year.

The rest does not depend on the wind, but it works around it. Horse and camel rides leave from the beach in front of the medina. They are best in the morning, at low tide, when the sand is hard and wide. Quad and buggy rides turn their back on the sea: the Diabat dunes, the forest, Cap Sim, out of the bay wind. The hammam, yoga and cooking classes are the 15:00 activities, for when the beach turns unpleasant. Day trips from Essaouira take you where the wind is felt less: argan cooperatives, the weekly souk at Had Draa, Sidi Kaouki. The Mogador golf course, at Diabat south of town, is a morning game too.

By visitor: rider, family, no car, rainy day

You have come to ride. Sleep on the bay or in a surf camp, not in a riad. Wet gear and 08:00 starts are awkward behind Bab Doukkala. Book the lessons before the room: a school’s rate is not negotiable, a room’s is. Before you drive anywhere, check the day’s wind spot by spot. Read the page for your stretch of water too: Moulay Bouzerktoune has nothing for a beginner.

You have come as a family. The bay beach in the morning, for the walk and the horses, then something indoors in the afternoon. A camel carries a child with no prior lesson. On a horse, we advise a first lesson and a helmet: ask the stables whether they provide one. A cooking class is the other family activity we recommend, out of the wind. Avoid Sidi Kaouki and Moulay Bouzerktoune for swimming: waves and currents. Our itineraries page adapts the day for children.

You have no car. Nearly everything is on foot. The beach begins at the end of Place Moulay Hassan, and the beach schools are 18 to 34 minutes’ walk from the square, depending on the school, by our route calculation. Yoga studios and riad spas are in the medina or just behind it. Sidi Kaouki is a grand taxi ride from Bab Doukkala, hired whole rather than by the seat if you carry boards. At Essaouira Ride Art, hotel transfer is included for quad, horse and camel rides. Elsewhere, ask before you pay.

It rains, or it blows too hard. Rain is concentrated in four winter months: 196 mm from November to February, on the station’s 1991-2020 normals. It rarely lasts the day. Strong wind closes more: the boats stay in port, the beach empties, the terraces too. On those days, a neighbourhood hammam in the morning, a cooking class at midday, yoga or a riad spa in the evening. Museums and galleries live under Visit, and our itineraries page offers a fallback plan.

What it costs, at published prices

Schools and activity operators mostly publish their prices in euros or dollars, on their own pages, which we reread on 16 October 2026. A two-hour private kitesurfing lesson costs €100 to €130, depending on the school. At Ocean Vagabond, a two-hour private lesson starts at €123 for wing foiling and €147 for windsurfing, and a one-hour group surf lesson at €22. At Essaouira Ride Art, an hour on horseback costs €20 in a group and €35 private, an hour on a camel €20, and the one-hour quad circuit at Diabat €30 alone or €45 for two. Horse Essaouira lists $15 an hour on a horse and $20 on a camel. At the Ryad Watier spa, the traditional hammam costs 300 MAD. At Heure Bleue Palais, the 40-minute traditional scrub is 450 MAD.

Two things to take from that. A week of supervised water sports is paid by the lesson hour: do the sum before you set it against the nights. And the price says nothing about the quality of the supervision. Whatever the activity, ask who goes with you, how many students each instructor has and what the insurance covers. Our budget section adds up the day.

To pick your dates, our when to visit section compares the months, wind and temperature together. For the day itself, the wind page gives the knots spot by spot. Kite and surf competitions live in the sports calendar, not here.